Will Michigan’s Gov. Snyder Cave on Gun Rights?

Erik18 December 2012

In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, Gov. Snyder is apparently facing increased pressure from liberal activists seeking to use the tragedy to sink a gun-rights bill that was recently passed through Michigan’s House and Senate. Via the AP:

Gov. Rick Snyder pledged Monday to take a close look at legislation that could allow concealed weapons in schools and churches following the massacre at a Connecticut elementary school that evoked painful, personal memories of a fatal shooting at his college dormitory more than three decades ago.

Snyder told The Associated Press during an interview that his public safety concerns have been heightened and “deserve extra consideration” following a mass shooting that left 26 people — including 20 children — dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Conveniently left out of coverage of the shooting: the shooter broke numerous Connecticut gun laws to carry out his rampage. Connecticut already had its own “assault weapons” ban. Further, at 20, it was illegal for the shooter to purchase or otherwise possess a handgun. The shooting itself occurred in a gun-free zone, a common feature of mass shootings in the United States. (Columbine, Virginia Tech, University of Alabama, Aurora, Sandy Hook, all of these were, and remain, gun-free zones).

Before anyone makes an asinine comment about arming first graders, that’s obviously not what I am suggesting. However, schools ought to have armed security so that when their other security measures fail—as they did in this case—the criminal isn’t the only person with a weapon.

This is hardly a new idea, a Texas school’s “guardian program” has allowed licensed teachers to carry weapons since 2008 without incident.

How many times must gun-free zones fail before they are eliminated? The Sandy Hook shooting was, is tragic. I can’t imagine being one of these parents; I can’t imagine the impact on these children. But to use the emotional distress of this atrocity to sink legislation that would expand the right to self-defense—as the AFT, a teachers’ union, is attempting—is deplorable.